Feed-water heater.



P N A M W 0 B K M FEED WATER HEATER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. e, 1906.

WITNESSES: &.

co, WASHINGTON, D. c

UNITED STATES PATENT @EEIQE.

MARK K. BOIYMAN, OF MCNTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T THE JAMES REILLY REPAIR AND SUPPLY COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEl/V JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

FEED=WATER HEATER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 12, 1907.

' Application filed August 6.1906. Serial No. 329,335.

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that I, MARK K. BowuAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Montclair, in the county of Essex andState of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Water Heaters, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in IQ feed-water heaters and it consists in the novel features, arrangements, and combinations of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The object of the invention is to provide a highly-efficient feed-water heater adapted to receive and permit the. passage through it of exhaust-steam and impart the heat therefrom to the feedovater, which passes through coils arranged within the shell of the heater and exposed to the exhaust-steam.

In presenting my invention herein I illustrate the same as arranged to receive all of the exhaust-steam from the hoisting-engines, dynamos, pumps, steering-engines, and other 2 5 auxiliary engines to be found on modern steamships and to utilize the same in heating the water fed to the boilers. The steam required for the auxiliary system on shipboard is from ten to fifteen per cent. of the 0 capacity of the main boilers, about fifteen per cent. being the average in the transatlantic service. Owing to the poor efficiency of the auxiliary en ines, especially the directacting pumps, which are great steam-con- 3 5 sumers, the greater part of the heat escapes in their exhaust, and when this exhaust is led to the main condensers this heat is lost. Formerly the auxiliary exhaust or part of it was led to the low-pressure receiver of the main engine, in this way making the cylinders of the auxiliary engines the high-pressure part of a con'ipound system. This, however, caused considerable complication, as the i'luctuationsin quantity of exhaust as well as 5 the great quantity of entrained water in it caused various ditficulties, and, furthermore, the system could only be adopted on vessels making voyages of long duration, as the stopping of the main engines entailed changing the exhaust over to the main condenser and regulating the speed of all the auxiliaries, owing to the change of back pressure to vacuum.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, in Which l igure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a feed-water heater constructed in accordance with and embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a top view of same with onehalf of the head and the upper manifold for the coils removed, and Fig. 3 is a detached side view of a portion of the exhaust-steam inlet and its valve-casing as the same are applied to the top of the heater.

In the drawings, 10 designates the shell of the heater; 11, a portion of the exhauststeam inlet equipped with a suitable valve applied to the top head at 12 of the heater 13, the feed-water supply-pipe; 14, the feedwaier delivery-pipe; 15, a suitable valve for controlling the flow of water through the inlet 16 to the heater; 17, a suitable valve for controlling the flow of the water from the outlet 18 to the feed-water delivery-pipe 19, a by-pass pipe intermediate the feed-water supply and feed-water delivery pipes, and 20 a suitable valve interposed in said by-pass, so that the latter may be closed when it is desired to effect the flow of the feed-water from the pipe 13 into the heater and discharge the same through the outlet 18 to the delivery-pipe 14 and that said by-pass may be opened when the valves 15 17 are closed for the purpose of cutting off the water from the heater and permitting its flow from the pipe 13 through the by-pass 19 to the pipe 14.

Vv ithin the shell 10 I provide corresponding lower and upper manifolds 21 22, each manifold having a series of concentric rings, as shown in Fig. 2, fastened together by flanges 23, at which they communicate with one another, so that there may be a free flow of the feed-water through all parts of the manifolds. The lower manifold 21 is connected with the inlet 16 for feed-water, and the upper manifold 22 is connected with the outlet 18 for the heated feed-water.

Intermediate the lower and upper mani- 10o folds 21 22 are provided several series of concentrically-arranged coils 24, which preferably are of copper and small bore and closely arranged within the shell 10, it being my purpose to arrange as many of the coils 24 as 105 may be expedient within the said shell. I

prefer to construct the upper and lower manifolds 22 21 of gun-metal and connect the ends of the coils with them by means of ground jointunions. In heaters of the larger size I provide the shell 10 with a removable door 25, so that the coils 2e may be readily accessible should occasion require them to be quickly removed or replaced.

In the employment of the heater the feedwater is pumped through the pipe 1.3 and inlet 16 into the lower manifold 21., through which it circulates, and thence passes upwardly in finely-divided streams through the coils 24 into the upper manifold 22, whence the water escapes tnrough the outlet 18 into the delivery-pipe l i, leading to the boilers, while at the same time the exhaust-steam entering through the pipe 1.1 descends into and fills the heater and imparts its heat to the manifolds 21 22 and coils 2e: and to the feed-water passing through the same, the exhaust from the heater being through an exhaust or drain outlet 26. I maintain a pressure of the exhaust-steam within the heater-shell, and when suilicient auxiliary exhaust-steam is present the average pressure carried in the heater is six. to eight pounds, giving a feed temperature of about 230.

The copper coils within the heater are of small bore and made of thin material, and this, combined with the fact that the feed.- Water is broken up into a number of small streams and must travel a long istance through each coil at the same speed as in the main feed-pipe and being constantly agitated, makes the heater a most efficient means of heating feed-water. Each coil takes its proportional part of the feed-water, and the coils are extremely elastic, so that all leakage due to expansion and contraction is avoided.

The heater is not in some of its adaptations intended to be worked under a vacuum, as such an arrangement does not relieve the main condenser of the auxiliary exhaust, and, furthermore, there is not enough heat in exhaust-steam under partial vacuum to get the feed temperature above boiling-point. The heater is therefore fitted with a vacuum breaking valve 27, which will signal if the heater becomes placed under vacuum by the iliary exhaust-line or otherwise. The heater is also provided with a safety-valve 28.

The drain-outlet 26 will in practice branch into two pipes, one of which will lead the condensation to the feed-tank and be controlled by a valve, and the other will pass to the main enginacondenser or atmosphere and be fitted with an automatic relief-valve, which will maintain a pressure of the exhaust in the heater-shell.

I do not limit my invention to its use in connection with exhaust-steam nor to its adaptation hereinbefore described for use on shipboard, nor is the invention limited to the special arrangement of fittings and valves shown and described. I desire to call attention to the fact that the steam-inlet may be located elsewhere than on the head of the shell 10 and that the pipe 14 may be used as the supply-pipe for the feed-water and the pipe 13 as the delivery-pipe therefor, the water then flowing downwardly through the coils 24 instead of upwardly through the same.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A feed-water heater comprising a shell having pipe connections for admitting steam thereto and an outlet, lower and upper manifolds within said shell and each composed of a'series of concentric hollow communicating rings, and several series of pipe-coils connecting the rings of the lower manifold with those of the upper manifold, combined with a supply-pipe for feed-water leading to one of said manifolds, and a delivery-pipe for the heated feed-water leading from the other manifold; substantially as set forth.

2. A feed-water heater comprising a shell having pipe connections for admitting steam thereto and an outlet, a safety-valve for said shell, a vacuum breaker for the heater, lower and upper manifolds within said shell and each composed of a series of concentric hollow communicating rings, and several series of pipe-coils connecting the rings of the lower manifold with those of the upper manifold, combined with a supply-pipe for feedwater leading to one of said manifolds, and a delivery-pipe for the heated feed-water leading from the other manifold; substantially as set forth.

3. A feed-water heater comprising a shell having pipe connections for admitting steam thereto and an outlet, lower and upper manifolds within said shell and each composed of a series of concentric hollow communicating rings, and several series of pipe -coils connecting the rings of the lower manifold with those of the upper manifold, combined with a supply-pipe for the feed-water leading to one of said manifolds, a delivery-pipe for the heated feed-water leading from the other opening of any condenser connection to auxmanifold, valves for said supply and delivery pipes, a by-pass connecting said pipes, and a valve for said by-pass; substantially as set forth.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3d day of August, A. D. 1906.

MARK K. BONMAN.

l/Vitnesses CHAS. C. GILL, ARTHUR MARION.

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